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Updated on November 2, 2016 at 2:46 PMPosted on November 2, 2016 at 12:20 PM

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Hamdi Ulukaya, show here speaking to a group of Chobani Greek yogurt employees at the plant in South Edmeston, Chenango County, is under fire from some conservatives for his commitment to hiring refugees to work for the company. He is an immigrant from Turkey.
(Lauren Long)

The company now employs about 300 refugees, out of total workforce of 2,000. About half of Chobani's employees work at its yogurt plant in South Edmeston or at the company headquarters in New Berlin, both in Chenango County.

It has a larger production facility in Twin Falls, Idaho, where, according to reports, most of the refugees have been hired. The mayor of Twin Falls, who has supported Chobani's efforts, has received death threats, the Times reported.

Chobani declined to comment on the Times' report.

Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya, a Kurdish immigrant from Turkey, has made no secret of his desire to find places in his company for refugees. He spoke of his commitment -- and made a call for more American companies to do the same -- at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January.

Ulukaya also founded the Tent Foundation, whose mission is to assist refugees. Its mission statement reads: "The Test Foundation seeks to improve the lives and livelihoods of the 65 million people who have been forcibly displaced around the globe. We do this by funding direct assistance, investing in innovation, and promoting policies and partnrships to help the displaced realize their full potential."

Conservative web sites and bloggers are on the attack. A headline in the far-right site WND declared "American Yogurt Tycoon Vows to Choke U.S. With Muslims." The site Breitbart, whose former chairman is now running the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, ran several stories that have been proven false: One, for example, tied the Twin Falls refugees to to a rise in tubuerculosis cases in the area.